Gov. Neil Abercrombie and University of Hawai‘i President M.R.C. Greenwood led the October 12, 2011 Worldwide Uchinanchu Festival Eve Parade in Naha, Okinawa, Japan. The festival is the largest gathering of Okinawans in the world and many return to their home prefecture to celebrate the event with family, friends and relatives.

Hawai‘i is home to one of the largest expatriate Okinawan populations in the United States of America, thousands of whom emigrated to the islands generations ago to provide labor in sugar and pineapple plantations in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Many in Hawai‘i’s Okinawan community have retained strong cultural and business ties to the land of their ancestors.

Abercrombie is on the early leg of a trip through Asia to strengthen business ties, promote Hawai‘i economic opportunities, boost tourism and lay groundwork for the upcoming APEC meeting in November in Honolulu. Greenwood spent last week in Vietnam helping to inaugurate the new Executive MBA class at the Shidler College of Business in Ho Chi Minh City and to participate in pre-APEC workshop panels for Vietnamese business and government officials in Hanoi and in Ho Chi Minh City. She will receive an honorary degree from UH’s sister university, Ryukus University in Ryudai, on October 13, and along with the governor will plant an Okinawan Cherry Blossom tree at the university, close to trees planted by previous UH presidents.

Former University of Hawai‘i Regent Ed Kuba and Robert “Bob” Nakasone, Worldwide Uchinanchu Business (WUB) co-founder and former president, accompanied Greenwood on the visit to Okinawa.

Pictured in the parade photos:

University of Hawai‘i President M.R.C. Greenwood and Gov. Neil Abercrombie lead the Worldwide Uchinanchu Festival Eve Parade in Naha, Okinawa. (Download image)